Sam and I decided last week that it would be nice if he laid off on the Optometry school thing for a while. He's already got over ninety credits, and has to take almost all of his major courses still. If he were to try to take all of the pre-reqs for optometry school, that'd be like another major as well. So that's kind of nice! I think he's been a lot more cheerful since making this decision. 
He is also, for right now, planning on becoming a helicopter pilot after graduation. I know that might sound...fake, but he's serious about it. I'm proud of him: he's done a lot research with it, and he thinks it'd be something he enjoyed. It's a tentative plan, of course-we have two years to decide if he's really going to fork out enough for the schooling, but for right now the decision seems to suit us. 
I also am really tired of school. It's not that I'm ungrateful, or that it's a waste of time. It's a huge blessing! But I'm not good at keeping up. I'm grateful I have such a supportive husband: no matter what happens, he'll be supportive. He wants me to be happy, and be proud of myself. He has suggested maybe I should take fewer classes than most people at a time, as I've said I might do in the past, and I've been considering it. It's just hard right now, since I still at minimum have 3 semesters and an internship after this one left already. Part of me wants to get done as soon as possible, since school is so hard for me so I should stick with it to be sure I finish. 
I'm getting to be really sick of people my age. Weird, eh? I suppose I should be more accurate: students. BYU students. Particularly those in my anthropology class/lab, and a few in my math lecture yesterday. I hate the idea that we only go to school for a grade. Though it's hard for me to do it for much other reason, I think we should go to learn. But in my anthropology lab last week, this loud kid said "None of what he lectures on, we will be tested on. Since all we have are assignments and papers in this class. So none of it matters." 
None of it matters? Really? That's a really rude thing to say about our professor, and about the subject-none of it matters. This will probably be the only anthropology class any of them ever take: why not get the most of it? 
Or another person said we shouldn't discuss anything that wasn't directly related to our paper. What? What about curiosity? Shouldn't discussion of the subject material be encouraged? Sheesh! 
In my math lecture, we were going over new material that was SUPER EASY! I don't know how she could have made it any easier. It's simply plugging things in: nothing complex about it at all. But these girls sitting behind me just criticized her teaching and complained/whined about their lack of understanding the entire hour. Maybe if you spent less time whining to each other, and asked actual questions you wouldn't have such a hard time! 
It's made me feel even more that I could never be a teacher. Students are merciless! If they don't understand, it's all your fault and that's that. If you have any kind of personality, they will find a way to make fun of it. Sheesh. Aren't teachers people, too? 
I guess all of this made me really grateful for a story Sam related to me that his D&C teacher told the class today. He said when BYU was first starting out, back when it was "Brigham Young Academy," one of Brigham Young's daughters was a teacher. But the academy struggled so much, they couldn't pay the teachers. The only way the teachers got paid was if students brought them things, like potatoes and chickens. They were struggling enough that this daughter of Brigham Young went to the prophet of the time, John Taylor, and told him about it. He told her "Don't worry. Christ has this school in mind, and everything will be fine." 
Sam's teacher's point was that this is a special school. How many universities could say Christ is watching over it? And because it's a special school, everyone should remember how privileged they are to be attending. He said for every student enrolled, there are five to ten people out there who desperately want to be a student, but weren't able to. Who would give anything to be. 
I guess it just gave me some peace of mind. I shouldn't say it made me 'smug,' but the message seemed to say to me "You aren't the only one with this in mind, and you're right. Time at BYU should be taken advantage of."
Now I just have to take advantage of it myself! I'm trying-I just have to try harder. 

Well, Sam and I are now two weeks into our first full semester at BYU. And good gravy, it is way harder than BYU-Idaho. Maybe that's partly because I'm taking 16 credits and working (though only working like 7 1/2 hours each week). I've never taken that many before so it's rather challenging. 


Sam had a really hard schedule too, and he was working almost 20 hours per week at the same time. That's not easy! He was really un-happy and stressed all the time, so I talked him into dropping his physics class for now (which was just a repeat anyway) and taking a D&C class instead. I'm so glad he did! I think it's working out a lot better. 


We're currently trying to decide what career path my Samuel Don should take. He's planning on continuing to take Pre-Optometry classes as well as his Linguistics courses, for the rest of his stay here at BYU. But for one thing I'm not sure if they'll let him, considering he's only starting the major now and already has 90+ credits, and for another...as he put it, Optometry, along with a lot of other careers, is only like an 8 on the scale of 1-10, 10 being what you're most passionate about. He doesn't really care about it all that much, but he likes that the hours are consistent and often you can set them yourself (if you own your own...practice? business? whatever it's called). 


What I  think would be perfect was if he could actually find a career that was sticking with Linguistics. I think he has a passion for languages, and would enjoy that immensely. 


We have also talked about him being a helicopter pilot. His parents his stared at him when he said that, almost like he was joking, but they said they were supportive and I'm sure they would be if he did indeed decide to pursue it seriously. 


I too have no idea what I'm going to use my major, Psychology for, since the more I think about it the less I want a job in the field. But who cares, I'll figure it out. 


We had kind of an interesting discussion on Friday about Utah Valley. We went  to the wedding reception of a childhood neighbor/friend of mine, and there were all these other young people there, wearing the latest trends and with the hottest hairstyles. On the car ride home, Sam kind of explained that people like that make him feel bad. Not bad about himself, or bad in a guilty way because he's judging them. Bad because they aren't living the way the Lord wants us to. The best way I could understand was thinking in terms of like 'Sunday Mormons.' I think he was suggesting there are a lot of people he sees constantly in Provo who seem to fit this. Who have their hearts set on the things of the world, on wearing the most expensive clothes and having the most money and the best smile. 


It was kind of sad for me to think about, because it's true, I see people like that all the time. And it's frustrating for those of us who try not to be that way: they give us a bad wrap. Both as Mormons to non-members, and as 'Utah Mormons' to members who don't live in the state. 


But I guess it's also an opportunity for Sam and I, and that's how I've been trying to see it. First, to resist looking down on people like this. It can be easy to do. Self-righteousness is easy to fall into-hello, it's pride. Look at the Book of Mormon and you can count how frequently the people became prideful. 
And second, to set an example. To love everyone, and dress and act in a way the Lord would approve of. To focus on what counts, and try to ignore what doesn't. 


I think that's enough for the day. Happy sabbath -Ariel